Human Conduct and Values: Knowledge An Unexamined Life is not Worth Living IDH 3035/4008 Spring 2011 MWF, 1:00-1:50 p.m. Charles Perry (CP) 439
Being human involves both knowing and acting (at the very least, in addition to being or existing). In the first half of the course (IDH 3005), we dealt with several approaches to knowledge, from Cartesian Foundationalism to Naturalized Epistemology and Relativism. Some serious thinkers suggest we know very little or nothing (Socrates: “I only know that I know nothing”). Are we animals trapped in a struggle of survival in which human values and knowledge have a provisional or instrumental value, or are we rational agents capable of ascending to realm of values and concepts that yield what we normally call “knowledge” that transcends our animal or biological nature? In addition, we will explore the possibility of “knowing” from a non-scientific perspective that invokes both God and feelings (the “sense of the heart,” as Jonathan Edwards would put it) as the very foundation of knowledge itself. This course is designed to encourage students to become self- conscious thinkers, who can reflect critically about the nature of knowledge, not only as understood by the Western intellectual tradition but by the Eastern as well.
In the second half of the course (IDH 3006) we will approach the concept of an examined life via the exploration of selected views of human values and conduct: 1) “Might Makes Right,” 2) Kantian ethics, 4) Utilitarianism or Consequentialism, 4) Ethical Relativism, Naturalism, and Subjectivism, 5) Contemporary rejections of subjectivism, et al.: David Wiggins and Thomas Nagel.
Honors Fellows Office Office Hours Phone
Professor Dan Alvarez DM 458A TR-11:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. 348-2354 [email protected]
Required Texts/Readings: William Frankena, Ethics, 2nd edition. ISBN: 0132904780 John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism. ISBN: 0486454223 Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. ISBN: 0061766313 John L. Mackie, “The Subjectivity of Morals,” chapter 1 of Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (full text on Blackboard). David Wiggins, “Objectivity in Ethics: Two Difficulties, Two Responses,” Ratio XVIII 1, March 2005 (full text on Blackboard). John Rawls, “Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory” (full text on Blackboard). W. V. Quine, “On the Nature of Moral Values” (full text on Blackboard). Folke Tersman, “Quine on Ethics” (full text on Blackboard). Callicles, “Might Makes Right” (full text on Blackboard).
Requirements Essay papers based on questions distributed by the instructor. Honors Citizenship Requirements All members of the Honors College are expected to be active citizens of the College, the university, and the community at large. To be a committed Honors College student is to take advantage of enhanced learning opportunities and to assume a leadership role in the world. All College members are expected to participate in the community-building activities listed below:
Attend one Honors Excellence Lecture per academic year and one Honors Colloquium per semester (fall and spring). (Attendance will be taken).
Participate in the Honors College Convocation each Fall. (Attendance will be taken).
Attend at least three Honors Hour sessions per semester or enrichment events specified by the Honors College as satisfying this requirement. (Attendance will be taken).
Perform at least ten hours of Community Service per semester either through the Honors College service partnerships (Sweetwater, Overtown Youth Center, etc.) or through other community service projects and/or events. If you want to apply this service to your graduation portfolio, be sure to document your hours.
Plagiarism Policy
Plagiarism is one form of academic misconduct, and the Honors College adopts the definition of the university’s Code of Academic Integrity, according to which plagiarism is
The deliberate use and appropriation of another’s works without any indication of the source and the representation of such work as the student’s own. Any student who fails to give credit for the ideas, expressions or materials taken from another source, including internet sources, is guilty of plagiarism.
Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to:
1. Term papers acquired online or from other sources; 2. Copying of original material without attribution; 3. Use of other students’ work; 4. Copying and pasting, verbatim, information from Internet sources, without quotation marks and correct citation.
Charges of Academic Misconduct may be brought against an Honors student by an Honors faculty member. For more information concerning this matter, all students are urged to review the following website: http://honors.fiu.edu/plagiarism.htm
Course Evaluation will be based on the following: TWO ESSAYS ANALYZING SELECTED TOPICS/QUESTIONS (DRAWN FROM THE REQUIRED READINGS) PROVIDED BY THE INSTRUCTOR.
Spring 08
Week 1 Introduction, Syllabus, Requirements.
Survey: Ways of Acting Required Reading: Frankena, 1-11; “Might Makes Right”.
Week 2 Survey, continued Required Reading: 12-28
Week 3 Survey, concluded Required Reading: Feldman, 28-43; 62-73; 103-116.
Week 4 Subjectivism: J. L. Mackie Required Reading: Mackie, “The Subjectivity of Morals,” (from Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong).
Week 5 Mackie, continued; W. V. Quine, “On the Nature of Moral Values” (full text on Blackboard).
Week 6 Mackie, continued; Folke Tersman, “Quine on Ethics” (full text on Blackboard).
Week 7 David Wiggins, “Objectivity in Ethics: Two Difficulties, Two Responses”
Week 8 Wiggins, continued
Week 9 Consequentialism: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
Week 10 Mill, continued
Week 11 SPRING BREAK
Week 12 Kantian Ethics: Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Week 13 Kant, continued
Week 14 Kant, continued; John Rawls, “Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory” (full text on Blackboard).
Week 15 Kant, continued